Kidney disease imaging

Mar. 22, 2018, 3:00 PM

Obstructive nephropathy — a condition in which the flow of urine is blocked — is a primary source of kidney impairment in infants and children.

Animal models of kidney injury have been useful for exploring the cellular and molecular events involved in obstructive renal injury. Non-invasive imaging methods would be valuable for evaluating disease progression.

The investigators report in the April issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine that multiple MRI parameters provide comprehensive information about the molecular and cellular changes caused by kidney injury. The changes in MRI measurements are related to tubular cell death, urine retention and kidney fibrosis (scarring), and will be useful for the biological investigation of kidney disease.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (DK079341, DK114809).

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